The Runaway
by TheBatBrain
Summary: This is the tale of a small town named Dusty Spring, and how one traveller caused a lot of change to happen to it. Rated for gun use, fight scenes which may prove graphic to some later down the line, alcohol use, gambling references and references to sexual materials. If you're not turned off by that horribly written disclaimer by all means, read the story of The Runaway


**The Runaway**

**This is an idea I've had poking around in my head for a little while; a little fun piece of some of your favourite characters in a completely different setting. Heck, you can see that in the genre description. Hope you have fun with this!**

**Chapter one- Small town, small community, big issues**

The baking sun burned down on the landscape, as it always did in the summer months; a challenge for the outlying farmers and ranch owners. The ground was hard, dusty too; you'd never see a mouse, snake, even an ant moving in the daylight. Only one place that ever saw any proper traversing was the road from the mountains to the coast, 'the water run'. Over 300 miles or so, though some exaggerate it; going through rocky terrain from the mountains to the marshland of the coast, the plains straight in the middle. Given the temperature in the summer months most decided to go early in the year, before returning in the autumn.

Near the middle, in the plains but close to the rocks, was a small town. Only a few buildings in it, those who lived there had a business there and the rest where either passers-by or from the outliers in the plains. Nearly no-one lived in the mountains, nearly. They were bandits, thieves, criminals, whatever you want to call them; attacking the convoys through the valleys and rocky roads if they had precious enough cargo, money, cattle, expensive food and drink. Didn't help the town much, they called it 'Dusty springs' though most ended up calling it just 'Dusty' as that's all that was there.

One day, as normal as the next, a dot appeared on the horizon, moving at quite the pace for a random fellow on the road, some people saw it coming and looked at it, confused.  
"Who the hell's that? Coming down here weather like it is!" One of the people said in a dry mocking tone. The stranger soon appeared in view, as a hedgehog on his horse, a brilliant white, built like a thoroughbred mustang, galloping into town, how the horse wasn't dead was anyone's guess. He called his horse to a stop just before entering town and walked it in. He took his bandana down to reveal a young man's face, his fur was an oddly vibrant blue, a single line of large quills going down his back. All that could be seen of him otherwise was his coat that nearly covered his worn boots, and a wide brim hat that shaded his green eyes, which were darting around the crowd.  
"What you lot staring at? Making it seem like you've seen a ghost or something." Everyone hurried off, doing what they were doing before he came in. The stranger went to the nearest saloon, tied his horse to the nearest post and went inside himself.

The scene was typical of every saloon the stranger had ever been in, a card table or two, which in the day were flipped over and were large tables, the bar was long and had every drink a man could wish for on the back of it. A set of stairs led to the above floor, the stranger could imagine all too easily what happened up there in the nights. Only two things were off, it was near empty, just one table full, the other thing was the barkeeper. The stranger walked up and took a stool.  
"A new guy in town? Rare sight given the sun in the summer." The barkeeper said in a deep, gruff voice, it was then that the stranger noticed the barkeeper's gloves.  
"Rare to see an echidna behind a bar serving drinks" The stranger's voice was higher, younger, but still sounded as experienced as the barkeeper he was talking to.  
"You saying I shouldn't be? I got every right you do pal. Now what you gonna have or are you just going to sit there being discriminatory?" He took a defensive pose.  
"Well, I'll have the strongest brandy you got." He said happily as if the previous tenseness never happened, taking the barkeeper off guard.  
"Uh, sure thing, you ain't starting a little early though aren't you?" The stranger shook his head. Once again putting on a serious tone  
"No, I really could use it now." The barkeeper went and poured his drink, but instead of just passing it to him, he took it over to him and looked at him, as if figuring something out.  
"Son, it don't take a genius to realise you doing something outta the ordinary. But with the way you've decided to appear in town, and the tone of your voice; you ain't just travelling, you're running from something."

Before the stranger could answer the door burst open with a crash. Three fellas stood in the doorway, one a rhino the size of a cart, another a human with biceps that seemed to be built by strangling bears, and the last a dove, no bigger than a kid who looked like the oldest one there and the leader of the trio. The Rhino was lifting up a small fox and the human was lifting another Mobian whose species couldn't be seen, both by the necks of their shirts. Though the biceps had to restrain the other Mobians arms.  
"I-I told you, h-he didn't mean anything by it!" The fox stammered out in fear in a very proper and clean spoken accent.  
"Not mean anything by it? You tried to steal our cattle!" The dove shouted back in a rage.  
"Well it was ours anyway! You stole 'em from us!" Said the other Mobian in a very deep and rough voice.  
"And where's your proof 'ey!? Strong-arm! Shut Mr Accusation here up. Don't want him ruin' the reputation of the Bruise brothers now don't we?" Strong-Arm nodded and with a:  
"Sure thing fast feather." And so he put his hand around his hostage's mouth.

It was then that the stranger got up and calmly walked over to the violence at the door and tapped on the doves shoulder.  
"'Scuse me." The dove turned round.  
"Stay outta this fella less you want a good-" But before he could finish his sentence the stranger punched him clean in the beak. The dove reeled back into the wall, the big guys just stood there, surprised. "Don't gust stand dere dlock heads! Get him!" He shouted through his broken beak.

The Rhino and Strong-arm dropped their hostages and charged at the Stranger, He dodged Strong-arm but the Rhino grabbed him and continued to charge at him into the bar; where the barkeeper just stood calmly, with a face that said 'Not again'. Fortunately the Stranger managed to kick off the chest of his huge combatant and rolled over the bar and ducked out of sight.  
"Oh, now where could he have gone to?" The Stranger said in a sarcastic voice from behind the bar. There the Stranger managed to sneak out and around the still searching Rhino. And turned his attention to Strong-arm who swung a punch which would've caved a man's skull in. The stranger upper-cutted his chin, and nearly broke his arm, it wasn't until then that he saw the metal jaw the now chuckling Strong-arm had.  
"You know if I were thinking about a scary nickname, I'd go for something about that and not your arms." He was immediately grabbed by Strong-arm.  
"I hate it when people point out my jaw, I HATE IT!" In sheer rage and strength, Strong Arm threw the Stranger across the room, breaking a table as he fell on it. The Rhino then charged menacingly at him. His eyes filled with rage for being played the fool at the bar. The Barkeeper sighed, 'Another young lad who thinks he can fight the bruise brothers' he thought.

The Stranger got up slowly and calmly at the approaching slab of muscle and drew his forefinger and thumb across the brim of his hat. And as the horn neared him, he grabbed it, flipped onto the big bruise brother and let him charge head first into the wall. A swift double-fisted hit on the rhino's head made sure he was out cold. This enraged Strong-Arm even further.  
"You dare do that to my little brother!?" He screamed as he charged at the stranger, who once again was calm as he approached. The huge man swung both arms at the hedgehog who stepped out-of-the-way almost casually as he brought his knee to Strong-Arm's forehead, which dazed the human who stumbled backwards when the masked friend of the fox smashed a chair over him, knocking him over. After this the Stranger turned his attention to Fast Feather, still holding his beak.  
"You dink you can come into dis town and geat up 'trong-Arm and Charger like dat? Listen to dis guster! I ain't gonna thight you to knock-out now, you and me are gonna have a little duel I say. One gullet each, one 'o clock, you got thive minutes gy my count." The hedgehog rolled his eyes.  
"See you then friend." He said in his cheery tone.

Soon after the fight, the Stranger finished his drink, acknowledged the thanks of the fox and his friend and strolled back into the street, where he found another hedgehog waiting for him standing in front of his horse. This one was wearing all black despite the weather; even his fur and horse was black, hard to see a colour on him apart from the white of his shirt under his coat and the red in his eyes. When you look down at his chest, you'd see the glistening metal of his sheriff's badge.  
"Afternoon Sheriff, I presume you're the sheriff of these parts." The hedgehog in black scowled at him.  
"The name is Marshall, but over then that, yes I am. And you just caused quite a commotion in the Inn just now, got a date with a gun barrel in a few minutes don't you?" He said in a slow, quiet voice; the Stranger simply smiled under his hat.  
"Why uh, yes I do." He answered cockily.  
"I'll tell you this boy; I've been after the Bruise brothers for a while now, but so far I can't get anything on them proper. But you're just some guy, who rolled into town; I can get both Strong-Arm and Charger for disturbing the peace with the stunt they pulled with those two unfortunates. I can get the leader Fast Feather too after the duel for the same and trying to kill you, but only if he's alive. You don't kill him, and I turn a blind eye and won't run you out-of-town. Simple as that." The Stranger lifted his head up to see the Marshall in the eye.  
"I've done my fair share of running Marshall; I can outrun a few more people." The Marshall smirked.  
"Think you can out run me? I'm called The Shadow by bandits 'round here 'cause I can hunt someone without them knowing it, they never see me coming, and this..." He brought out a large double barrelled shot-gun from his horse's saddle, "...is always what they see as soon as they turn around. Besides, why run? The people here are nice, the weathers hot, we're our own little oasis here in the dusty's. Just something to put on your mind is all." He got on his horse and rode down the street towards the jail.  
"Yeah, I got a few things already on my mind Sheriff!" The Stranger called back.

It was the last-minute before one before the Stranger noticed and the street was cleared, leaving only him and Fast Feathers on the street.  
"Times up Hog!" The Dove shouted. Down the street, his beak bandaged and his clothes wiped of blood. The Stranger took his place at the other end of the street, he took out a stick, a quick hand motion extended it and he threw it down into the earth. On it he put his coat and his hat; and what was underneath shocked many people. Under the coat were a waist coat and a shirt with the arms rolled up right to the shoulders, on his right arm was a tattoo of a bullet hole, on his left, a bandage from a long since healed real one. It was what was one his back that shocked most people, it was emblazoned with a golden 'S' with pointed ends. His revolver, a six-shooter, was blue and gold just like his fur and the emblem. The reason for all the shock was that this Hedgehog that had randomly rode into town, was The Blue Blur as most who'd met him called him, though he preferred 'Sonic'. His name was given since he had the fastest hand out of everyone to ever draw a gun. Able to draw and shoot through the gap between train carriages as some legends told. Few thought him a myth, but there he stood. Fast Feathers suddenly filled with dread, but held firm, he wasn't bad himself in terms of speed and legends are often exaggerated.

They waited for clock to reach One, the half-minute seemed tense. Fast Feathers nearly gripped his gun in fear, Sonic just held his hand limply to his side. The minute reached its final second and as the bell began to chime Fast Feathers reached for his gun, as he grabbed the handle, there was a bang and the barrel flew away from him in the other direction, his holster was destroyed and the gun was painfully ripped from his feathers, making him scream out as his wing bones were broken by the force of the pull. At the other end of the street, Sonic stood, shooting arm out stretched. The Marshall then appeared behind the in pain dove and grabbed him by the shoulders.  
"Son, you're coming with me." The dove only laughed.  
"Why bother? I'll be out in a few weeks and my hand will have healed by then as well!" He continued laughing but the Marshall pulled him back.  
"Oh believe me, it'll be more than a few weeks bird-boy, once you got a proper record for your criminal acts, it's much easier to get you convicted of other things, now you're coming with me." The dove resisted kicking and screaming out:  
"This isn't over you hear!? I'll be back, so will my brothers! And when we do..." The Marshall knocked him out with a sock to the head.  
"Keep quiet..." He looked around the crowd, "You all have a nice day you hear?"

As soon as the Marshall had entered the jail, Sonic was swamped by people wanting to congratulate him.  
"Thought we'd never get rid of them, cheers pal." The same man who mocked him for coming into town said. Others swamped him with gratitude and gifts. But he brushed them all off. Then the Barkeeper walked up to him, parting the crowd as he did, it was obvious that he held a lot of respect.  
"You did good back there Runaway." He smirked.  
"I told you, I ain't a running from anything." The hedgehog replied coldly.  
"No you didn't, and you just saying you did just made it all the more obvious..." Sonic swore under his breath. "Doesn't matter about where you come from anyway Runaway, you're here now, and you did good. I got rooms in the Inn, no one uses them this time of year, so if you want to stay in town." The hedgehog shook his head.  
"No, I ain't gonna be a fuss, that's led me to all sorts of trouble." The echidna chuckled.  
"Would 'a made you pay anyway. Names Knuckles, well, might as well be given the people here." He chuckled again and shook Sonic's hand. The hedgehog walked past him, but Knuckles called back seriously:  
"Wait, one last thing..." Sonic turned around, "You still owe me for that brandy." They both laughed and Sonic paid him in full.

Sonic walked through the crowd until he found the two he helped in the saloon; they were leaning against a wall, slightly breathless, well, the fox was. His friend wore too bulky clothing to let anyone know if he was breathing. Sonic realised why the fox was out of breath was because he'd taken his ground-spike and coat, and hat as well.  
"Howdy fellas, huh, guess you are a pair of thieves." He said in his cocky tone. The fox shook his head rather violently.  
"No sir! Not at all... Uh... Believe me this ain't what it looks like." He immediately passed the coat and the hat back to Sonic, who put them on and realised his ground-spike was still missing.  
"All of it." The Fox reluctantly gave him his ground-spike back.  
"Sorry Sir, but I was just so curious, a collapsible device on this level, while still holding such integrity in its structure." His friend hit him round the head.  
"Can it Tails. You're starting to sound queer here." Tails stopped speaking.  
"Seems like you owe me for what happened at the saloon." Tails nodded, but his friend stood defiant about that statement. "You two are cowboys ain't you?" He asked; both nodded this time.  
"So I'll take it you're not staying in town, cattle or no cattle, if that's the case, think you can accommodate one more?" The two looked at each other, in disbelief. Surely wanderers like him can set up their own camp? Maybe he was just being lazy. But they relented and allowed him to come along.

As the three of them rode into the camp the cowboys had made, Conversation started up.  
"Forgot to ask then, why the name Tails?" The fox laughed.  
"It's nothing, used to be 'Tales' since I was a good story-teller apparently, but soon, it just became Tails anyway." The Hedgehog cocked an eyebrow.  
"Really? I'd believe that story were true if you didn't say 'was a good story teller'; no one ever looses that skill." The fox sighed.  
"Damn, thought I had you, well, if you must know." He took his coat off and showed to Sonic behind him a second Tail tied to his back. "Not a word to anyone, you hear, was the laughing-stock of the last town I lived in." The Hedgehog chuckled.  
"Believe me not a peep, though I'd show that off for all it's worth. Another thing, where'd you learnt to talk like that? Not every day you hear a cowboy talking like he's a governor." The Fox laughed heartily.  
"If only you knew my friend; you see I'm the governor's kid!" The hedgehog reeled in disbelief, some of it being over dramatic, but he really didn't expect that.  
"What on the gods earth are you doing out here herding cattle for then?" The Fox laughed again.  
"Believe me; you'd want to get out of it too. A wandering spirit put on a fixed course for the rest of his life? No sir! Took first chance I could to get out of there, ran into some great people, like Aaron here. Trying to save up money to get into the sciences, or maybe just to be a blacksmith. Do well enough there, you become quite the celebrity." He laughed again. His past wasn't his burden it seemed. Sonic called to the group leader:  
"Hey, Aaron! You got a good reason to wear that mask!" He shouted, still jovial. But Aaron shook him off.  
"Don't talk about Aaron's mask; real sensitive issue, horrible scarring, face only a mother could love type of deal." He turned around to Aaron giving him a death glare. He promptly shut up about it. Aaron then called to Sonic.  
"You seem to be getting to know use real well. But we don't know anything 'bout you. Answer me this, where'd you get such an impressive horse?" Sonic looked down at the mane of his horse.  
"Who, Shelby? Been with me since I started travelling. Faster than any horse I ever seen; caught up to a train once. Can run for a long while too."

They reached the camp where Tails and Aaron were staying. It was just a fire with their wagon behind it.  
"A wagon, Cowboy's?" Sonic was a bit confused, nothing around this town made much sense anyway to him.  
"You'll be surprised how Tails can lead a herd." Tails blushed slightly at the compliment. The three of them put out their bed rolls and settled down.

But in the middle of the night Sonic heard a stirring, he had good ears on him and they've never lead him wrong before. He got up and silently sneaked around the wagon where the noise was coming from and drew his gun, he didn't want to be caught unawares. He turned quickly to the back and heard a scream, a girl's scream. He reached into the wagon for something to light up the area and found a match, he lit it and saw who he'd startled. It was Aaron, not wearing his bulky over clothes or mask, when he looked at him; he noticed his body didn't quite match up to the description of a male. His eyes immediately widened and he quickly blew out the light. Didn't stop the awkwardness any.  
"Um... Aaron?" Sonic said into the darkness. "Or should that be..."  
"Amelia." She cut him off with a sad voice.  
"Does Tails know?" He saw her silhouette nod slightly, and then she started crying.  
"Hey, no need to cry." He said in as comforting a voice as he could muster. But she moved away from him.  
"Damn it! She shouted "Here's someone else who'll treat me differently." She started crying again. Sonic chuckled.  
"Please, if being a man or a woman is enough to differentiate one from the other, I'd be dead. Had everything I owned stole by a woman once, no man's ever done that." She stopped crying, but still had to wipe her nose and eyes.  
"Really...?" She said with a light laugh. He took off his glove to show his ring finger, wedding ring on and all.  
"Yeah, everything I'd ever owned." They both started laughing, Amelia properly, Sonic half-heartedly as he remembered that time. "By the way, what are you doing here this late? Scared me slightly." Amelia shook her head.  
"Nothing really, just... Never mind. Go back to sleep." He took her word for it and went back to sleep. This town was really strange. Sonic wondered just what to do next.

**There you have it gentlemen and ladies. The first chapter of what shall be a very long running story if all the arcs I've got planned come to fruition. I do hope you liked it, if you did, or if you didn't please remember to leave a review saying why. If you loved it, favourite it, if you want to be alerted to what happens next, follow this story. But now I being bloody Captain Obvious and we don't need that. So until next time readers! Have a nice day!**

**In other news, anyone understand the broken-beaked Fast Feather?**


End file.
